Surplus military equipment provides extra protection, police say

Piqua police Chief Bruce Jamison knows that the threats in his city don’t compare to roadside bombs U.S. service members encounter in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But he doesn’t apologize for paying $5,000 in transportation fees to obtain a more than 26 tons, $733,000 armored vehicle through a government program that allows local police forces to repurpose military equipment.

“I don’t hesitate to acknowledge that it’s a lot more machine than we need,” Jamison said Monday. “But there’s no way I could have given my tactical team the type of cover that they need routinely for low-frequency, but high-risk situations.”

Piqua police’s massive, sand-colored “tactical rescue vehicle” is not on President Obama’s list of banned gear local police can no longer acquire from the military — the ban was announced Monday.

However armored vehicles like those obtained by some law enforcement agencies throughout the region will need approval from local government and justification for their acquisition.

The White House’s decision to ban some gear and put tight controls on other surplus military equipment grew out of recommendations by a panel that studied the distribution of military-style equipment similar to those used on the streets of Ferguson, Mo. in response to riots after a white police officer killed a young black male last summer.

The ban — effective immediately — won’t fund the transition of armored vehicles on a tracked system (not wheels), firearms of more than .50-caliber or higher, grenade launchers, bayonets, camouflage uniforms and weaponized aircraft.

“I don’t think most agencies would have a problem with any of that (being banned),” said Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer, whose department got its vehicle in May 2014, a month after Piqua police got theirs. “If it comes to the time when I need a piece of equipment that’s .50-caliber or higher, then we’re in trouble.”

Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said “ we have very little” when it comes to surplus military equipment. The department’s original helicopter was military surplus and they too have M-16 rifles, Jones said. The department has a military pickup truck and a deuce and a half truck that is used for rescues during flooding incidents.

Jones said when he looked at some of the specific items banned by the president, including bayonets, grenade launchers, aircraft with gun mounts and tracked vehicles, he wondered which departments actually stocked them.

“You know a lot of what they (military) are getting rid of is stuff they don’t want, and there is a reason for that,” Jones said. “I am pretty picky.”

Major Mark Hoffman, assistant chief of the Middletown Division of Police, said the ban is “not going to effect us at all.” Over the years Middletown has received some items from military surplus, including gas masks, plain green uniforms for the Special Response Team to train in and some semi-automatic M-16 rifles, which are Vietnam era.

“We still use the rifles,” Hoffman said, adding it has been a while since they have taken possession of any military surplus items. He said the department was considering an armored vehicle about six months ago, but passed because they would have had to go to California to get it.

In the last 10 years, the Hamilton Police Department has received some M-16 guns and utilized some empty first aid kit boxes for storage in the cruisers, according to Police Chief Craig Bucheit. But he said the ban would not affect the department because the items listed are not ones they have ever received.

Jamison, Fischer and Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly all agree that the old military armored vehicles fill a need for their SWAT teams, and save their budgets while re-using equipment taxpayers have already bought.

“For us to go out and purchase an armored vehicle like this, would not be something that would ever work into the budget,” Kelly said. “When the military makes these units available, we have to take advantage of them.”

Jamison said Piqua’s Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle has been used once in a mutual aid call last summer while Fischer said his department’s has not yet been deployed in a non-training event. Both departments paid about $5,000 to have the MRAPs shipped from Texas, whereas new vehicles would have cost between $250,000 and $300,000.

“You’re not going to see ours out on patrol,” Fischer said. “You’re not going to see it in parades while I’m here. … We will pull it out when we need it and only when we need it.”

As for citizens who feel local police don’t need such equipment, Jamison said, “I would just ask that they understand the threats that they call on us to address,” he said. “I’m not complaining about the weaponry that is allowed in the country — but it means I always want my officers to be able to outgun and have protection from any type of weapon that they might have to encounter.”

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